YouTube inks UK music licensing deal

Google’s YouTube said on Wednesday that it has reached a deal with the MCPS-PRS Alliance, a British licensing organization that collects royalties on behalf of composers, songwriters and publishers, in which the popular video-sharing website has agreed to pay a flat fee to the organization in exchange for licensing its more than 10 million songs.

“Whether it is music videos, user uploads or other audio visual content, our agreement will allow our 50,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members to be paid when their creative talents are being enjoyed on YouTube's service.”
The alliance will decide how to distribute the revenues to its members based on estimated use and is reportedly working with YouTube on how to identify those high-profile songs that are most often used as background in both professional and user-generated videos.

Although some media companies and licensing organizations have a combative relationship with the video-sharing site, saying it encourages the improper use of their copyrighted material, the MCPS-PRS Alliance is the latest to join others who have began to realize the website's possibilities and have been more willing to try out new ways of monetizing their content through strategic partnerships with YouTube.